“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-23
This lockdown period has certainly been an interesting test of all the fruits described in these verses. While the world is going through a health crisis, grief and heartbreak, it can seem really selfish for us to feel sorry for ourselves cooped up inside, working from home and attending church via Zoom.
Having said this, there are certainly days where it has been all too easy to be selfish and display all the behaviours the Bible warns us against! There are certainly times during this lockdown where I have not had forbearance for family members, nor been very self-controlled, loving or peaceful. I have definitely felt God refining me during this lockdown to bear these fruits all the more. From the beginning of the lockdown with the constant terrible news about the pandemic, the sudden change of pace, and increasing number hours spent in one environment, the disruption, noise and chaos threatened to pull me down. When it all came too much one evening, I felt God was challenging me to spend time in His presence and lift up all my burdens to Him. Whether it was my own burdens, burdens of those around me, or burdens of the world, Jesus tells us to cast our burdens on Him. He promises to be with us, take the yoke, bear the brunt and even after that? He continues to pour out endless amounts of His love, grace and peace upon us, even when I fail Him every day.
We truly serve a loving and gracious God and if this lockdown has taught me anything, it is that when we return to “normality”, I should not be the same person as before. Lockdown should be challenging and changing us. We need to let go, and let God do the refining.
So, in response to God’s love, let us keep on running this race and through the Holy Spirit’s work in us, allow God to challenge and change our character, bearing those everlasting fruits as described in Galatians 5.